Mercedes SLR Once Owned By Michael Jordan Now on EBay

A special-edition Mercedes-Benz SLR 722 is up for auction on EBay with a “buy it now” price of $429,998. That may be a bit of a bargain, since there were just 150 built, only a couple dozen or so were sold in the U.S. and this one was owned by former basketball star Michael Jordan.

Seriously, one could argue the asking price is a discount. According to the National Automobile Dealers Association the car, which sold new for $480,000, is worth about $449,000 today in mint condition. The ex-Jordan car (a spokeswoman confirmed Mr. Jordan no longer owns it) has just 962 on the odometer according to EBay.

The 722 edition of the already-exotic SLR came along in 2007, about three years after the standard SLRs went on sale, to help bolster interest in the fading supercar. After all, sports cars in this rarefied category are known for short shelf lives.

The number 722 is an homage to an earlier Mercedes race car, the 300SLR, that won the 1955 Mille Miglia, a 1,000-mile race through Italy. British Grand Prix driver Stirling Moss and his navigator, the writer Denis Jenkinson, finished the dangerous race in record time with an average speed of nearly 100 mph. In racing circles Moss’s performance is like a perfect game in baseball or a grand slam in tennis. Make that consecutive grand slams.

If Moss had owned the car it might fetch even more, especially if he had raced it. For collectors, racing history often outweighs celebrity provenance. That’s not to say celebrity ownership doesn’t add value. It is simply difficult to predict how much it will add.

Cars once owned by members of the Beatles have disappointed at auction from time to time, while several years ago an auction of former Elton John cars fetched far more than they would have been worth otherwise. And a couple of years back a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso once owned by the actor Steve McQueen sold for $2.3 million at auction — several times the typical Lusso price.

We’ll know in just over a week how Jordan stacks up. The EBay auction ends Oct. 31 at 4 p.m. PDT.

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